How to get 50% discount on Airbnb

Alban
Alban
Aug 28, 2017 · 4 min read

As software developer I should write some tech article about Airbnb technology, but this time I want to report a total privacy violation by Airbnb and how this can potentially attract cheaters. (the article title is ironic obviously)

I use to rent my apartments of my property in Albania through Airbnb, especially in the summer when the demand is high. I have got a lot of tourist and made a lot of new friends from all countries. Everyone has enjoyed the rest in these houses, 50m from the sea side, in the main summer street in Vlora city.

So what happened?

3 guys from Italy reserved one of my apartments for 4 days, for 14€/day. Since I work in Dublin, Ireland, I used to send my cousins or my mother to pick up the guests and bring them to the apartments. All fine since here.

The next day I got a notification in the Android App:

Rocio L. changed and approved the reservation

What happened? I couldn’t understand, so I open the Airbnb web site and I notice that the reservation of the guests had changed from 4 days to 1. How? I did not approve it, I did nothing, so I thought I was hacked (although my passwords are complex) so I contacted Airbnb support to ask what happened. Waiting for a reply I got a message:

Hi Alban,

I hope my email finds you well.

My name is Rocio and I am contacting you from Airbnb’s Trip Experience Team.

I have to let you know that your Guest davide complains because he is in another Listing not where he booked.
For that reason I made an alteration and for the nights not spent your guest will get the full refund and for the night spent the 50%.

In this Link you can understand better what happen when a Host change the Listing to the Guest: https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/1503/what-if-the-listing-my-guest-reserved-is-now-unavailable-but-i-am-able-to-host-them-elsewhere

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Rocio

My reply was:

Hi Rocio

I do not accept this alteration without my permission, please do not do it again. I have 4 apartments and every time I give the choose to the guest to choose which he likes.

It is the first time such a thing is happening.

The apartment I gave to them is a fully apartment, with own bathroom, own kitchen everything.

For the night spent I want 100% of the money, hope this is clear, otherwise I will call the police.

I am very annoyed and angry for this, I rent these apartments for 14 euro day, meanwhile the average price is 30 euro, my mom cannot even afford the bills…

Hope you come with a resolution as fast as you can

Alban

Rocio reply followed:

Hi Alban,

I am so sorry, but that is a violation in Airbnb and if the guest complains about the Listing they can left the Listing with the refund because He booked another Listing, a entire home, and you gave him a private room! Unfortunately, that is not fair.

Thank you again for your understanding and for your valued time and contribution.

Best regards,

Rocio

And that is false, because I have 4 single rooms apartments identical, and I have advertise only 2 of them on Airbnb. When the guest arrives I always give them the freedom to select the apartment they like more and no one has ever complained about this. The same we did with the above 3 italian guests.

The above 3 italian guys were accompanied by my cousin to the apartment. They didn’t say nothing accepted it. The next morning they made an official complain to Airbnb, saying that it was a room not an apartment and was not the one listed in the photos.

Why? They chose it. Why they did not said that to my cousin? Why they didn’t contacted me immediately to fix the situation?

Simple because they were prepared to make this scam. Or perhaps they were expecting a 5 start hotel for 14 euro/day (4.6 euro per each person!!!).

So at the end, they went away, paying just 6.5 euro for the night, thanks to Airbnb support. The only thing I could do was just to leave very negative feedback for the guest, although I think the major issue here is Airbnb.

Airbnb did a privacy violation in my account changing reservations without my permission. They did not verified if the guests tried to solve the issue with me, they never contacted me. They trusted only the guest. I tried to clarify this situation with Airbnb and Rocio, but the rest of my email were simply ignored.

Not only, this action puts in danger the safety of the guest (especially in Albania), considering that many people may react in different way when they do not get payed.

So the trick is simple: Book with Airbnb, make some photos of any other apartment, the next day complain directly to the Airbnb support, send them the fake photos, and you’ll have 50% discount on your booking and then run fast.

)
Alban

Written by

Alban

Software Engineer at AWS

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